How to Effectively Localize Your Website

Globalizing your brand is an increasingly viable option for all sorts of businesses these days. There’s a huge amount of custom waiting if you know how to connect to global audiences in meaningful and valuable ways.

Remember, selling your products/services to an international market requires special attention – and it starts with website localization.

Your website is more often than not the first point of contact for your foreign customers. That’s why it’s super important you provide a unique and welcoming experience for your visitors – no matter what language they speak or where they’re located around the globe.

So to help open the door for global audiences, we’ve got 7 must-do steps for localizing your website effectively. We want you to see big results!

1.    Design your website with localization in mind

The first step towards successful localization is planning ahead – and that includes designing a website that’s easily adaptable. Make sure the copy on the site pages can be translated without any formatting errors. Opt for a site that’s visually appealing yet uncomplicated. That way you can change the text around without running into design inconsistencies.

2.    Strategize your website SEO

Localize your site without compromising the success of your SEO work. Know the search intent of your global markets and incorporate keywords into the text. Your site still needs to generate traffic no matter what language it’s translated to. That’s where a multilingual SEO strategy comes into play.

3.    Consider important cultural differences

Carry out market research and make final decisions on how you should adapt content and brand messages for multiple foreign audiences. You must align your content with cultural differences, and this starts and ends with being culturally aware and sensitive. What works well in one market might be deemed inappropriate in another.

4.    Add an easy-to-use language toggle

Your site should also allow visitors to switch from one language to another. Giving visitors the option to select a language transforms your site into a more welcoming experience. For example, a customer might speak English proficiently, but actually want to navigate the site in their native language.

5.    Think about your brand as a whole

While deep in the localization process, be sure to take a step back and assess the ongoing results. Staying true to your brand is important –so make sure your localization changes don’t stray too far from your company values and messages. Simply make minor changes wherever necessary, don’t change everything.

6.    Don’t forget about the rest of your content

It’s not just your website pages that need localizing – the rest of your content needs attending to too, including any video, social media content, or downloadable files like ebooks. Don’t forget about visuals, graphics, and images too. It’s not just words that need localizing.

7.    Test everything and make any necessary changes

Last but certainly not least, test out your new changes – over and over again until you’ve hit the nail on the head. Remember, it can take a fair amount of time until you’ve got your localization right. Test out every single aspect and element of your site to make sure it’s working as it should. It’s also good to test if your site resonates well with its intended audience too.